Barcelona homegrown prodigy does not want to be the fifth-choice in his position – report

Barcelona have been quite active in the ongoing transfer window, both in the incoming and outgoing fronts.

The midfield department is where the Catalans have strengthened significantly, roping in Ilkay Gundogan and Oriol Romeu.

Gundogan arrived on a free transfer after his contract at Manchester City ran down while Romeu signed from Girona for a minimal fee of close to €4 million.

Both players are set to play key roles in Xavi’s setup, which has now cast aspersions over the role of one of Barcelona’s most talented young players in Gavi.

Gavi does not wish to be the fifth-choice midfielder

Indeed, Xavi opted to go with Pedri, Frenkie de Jong, Gundogan, and Romeu as his midfield quartet in the season-opener against Getafe, with Gavi only featuring from the bench.

And, AS is now reporting that the 19-year-old academy graduate will not settle for being the fifth-choice midfielder and a substitute role in the squad.

Gavi, since enjoying his breakthrough in 2021, has been seen as one of the most promising and talented young midfielders in the game. He is among the players to have had the most minutes under Xavi.

The 19-year-old managed three goals and seven assists last season, outdoing Pedri and De Jong in terms of goal contributions for the team.

Despite having had to face complications with his registration, the midfield prodigy never showed any discontent, while not paying any attention to interest from big clubs in Europe.

There had been murmurs of him being offered to PSG, which reportedly upset him, and compelled Xavi to have a talk with the youngster to assure that there was no such move.

The La Masia ace has always maintained that he wishes to succeed at Barcelona, but as iterated earlier, will not accept a reduced role.

As such, the situation poses a challenge for Xavi to rotate his midfielders in such a way that none of them feel left out or less important.

As things stand, it is speculated that Gavi would be starting against Cadiz on Sunday, and it will certainly be interesting to see who is sacrificed to make room for the teenager.